The Chicago Tribune names Francesco Milioto “one of the best young conductors working in the Chicago area.”  Since his debut in the Chicago area just over a decade ago he now balances a busy career conducting a wide range of orchestral and operatic repertoire while maintaining a full schedule as a pianist and vocal coach.  He currently holds the positions of Co-founder/Conductor of the New Millennium Orchestra, Music Director of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Chicago Cultural Center Summer Opera, Principal Conductor of the Highland Park Strings and Artistic Director/Conductor of Access Contemporary Music.  Mr. Milioto is an assistant conductor/rehearsal pianist/prompter for the Ravinia Festival, where he works closely with Maestro James Conlon.  This season Mr. Milioto will return to Los Angeles Opera as first assistant conductor, following a successful debut last season.  During both the 2009 and 2010 Chicago Opera Theater seasons he served as an assistant conductor/rehearsal pianist, and also chorus master.  Mr. Milioto makes regular appearances as a guest conductor with Opera Elgin and Opera on the James in Lynchburg, VA.

Mr. Milioto is particularly proud of his work with the New Millennium Orchestra of Chicago, which he helped to co-found in 2005.  The NMO has an incredible range of repertoire, playing everything from classical music and opera to collaborations with jazz and hip-hop artists.  This season NMO will perform at Orchestra Hall, home of the great Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in a program featuring world renowned tenor Yonghoon Lee.  The NMO will also make its recital debut at the Harris Theater and continue it’s ground breaking Mix-Tape Series.  This young dynamic group has successfully debuted on both the Ravinia Festival Kraft Kid’s Series and the Harris Theater Family Series with innovative programs like D.J Beethoven and Hip Hopera, both created by Mr. Milioto.  The NMO also maintains a residency at Columbia College where the perform concerts featuring music by students in the Music for the Screen program. 

Now in his fifth season as Music Director of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra Mr. Milioto will lead programs celebrating the organizations 50^th Anniversary.  This season will feature repertoire played by the SVSO in its first year of existence.  The opening concert will include Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 played by Alexandra Switala, winner of the 2011 Young Artist Competition, and Tchaikovsky’s incredible Symphony No. 5.  Other programs will feature Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 “Italian”, and an entire program of Spanish favored repertoire with soprano Michelle Areyzaga.  The 50^th Anniversary season will end with two concerts, one featuring Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with soprano Stacey Tappan, and a final Symphonic Jazz program featuring legendary Chicago blues man Corky Siegel on Harmonica and piano playing “Symphonic Blues” a piece commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony.  Mr. Milioto has enjoyed an enthusiastic response to his unique musicianship and wide range of repertoire.  In addition to building on the history of high quality performances, the past seasons have seen a successful return to concert opera, and the creation of free concerts for local school children.

His work with the Highland Park Strings ranges from the earliest string music to the romantic and contemporary.  As Principal Conductor, Mr. Milioto has had the pleasure to work with many international soloists including Janos Starker, David Shifrin, Inna Faliks, Angela Cheng, Rachel Barton-Pine and Chicago Symphony Orchestra members Robert Chen, Mathieu Dufour and Eugene Izotov.  Mr. Milioto is looking forward to concerts featuring Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, as well as an all Tchaikovsky concert with the Violin Concerto and rarely heard Souvenir de Florence. This season includes a gala concert at Ravinia’s Bennett-Gordon Hall with soloists Michelle Areyzaga performing the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 and cellist Amit Peled performing Herbert’s Cello Concerto No. 2 followed by Dvorak’s New World Symphony No. 9. 

As Artistic Director and Conductor of Access Contemporary Music, Mr. Milioto is in command of the brilliantly vibrant ensemble Palomar, which has been featured on the radio and in performances through the city and abroad. Especially exciting are ACM’s Composer ALIVE project and the Sound of Silent Film performances. This season the Composer ALIVE project highlights Canadian composer Omar Daniel and will take Palomar on tour to Toronto and London, Ontario ending with a world premiere performance in Chicago’s Cultural Center.  Mr. Milioto is very proud of the work ACM does in nurturing new composers, and performing many new works each season by living composers through Chicago.

As an opera conductor, Mr. Milioto has led nine productions to critical acclaim at the Chicago Cultural Center, which include Le Nozze di Figaro, Candide, Dido and Aeneas, The Magic Flute, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges.  He led the Cultural Center’s most recent production of Acis and Galatea from the harpsichord which had its final performance at the prestigious Pritzker Pavillion in Chicago’s Millennium Park.  Mr. Milioto has conducted five productions in Virginia with Opera on the James, and led several gala concerts and productions with Opera Elgin in collaboration with the New Millennium Orchestra.  Mr. Milioto also made his debut with Opera Southwest last season in a production of Verdi’s La Traviata. 

As an assistant conductor and rehearsal pianist at the Ravinia Festival he has been involved in seven operas and various other orchestral and vocal projects working alongside Daniel Barenboim (2004) and James Conlon (2005-present).  Mr. Milioto has work along side the world most renowned singers in productions including Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Otello, Rigoletto, Butterfly, and Tosca.  He has also worked with several soloists such as James Galway, and Lynn Harrell, and has been a featured accompanist on the “Breaking the Silence” series.

Mr. Milioto will return to Los Angeles Opera this season to continue his role as first assistant conductor, this time to Maestro Patrick Summers for LAO’s production of Puccini’s La Boheme.  Last season marked his debut at LAO assisting James Conlon on a production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Mr. Milioto also worked at Chicago Opera Theater as an assistant conductor/rehearsal pianist for both Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers (featuring Frederica von Stade), and Peter Brook’s version of Bizet’s Carmen, before returning to work as an assistant conductor and chorus master for Rossini’s Mosé in Egitto.